48 THE ECCLESIASTlCAli SEALS OF COBNWAiL. 



known about the cell and its inhabitant, although the spot is 

 surrounded by a host of traditions. 



At St. Gronger, otherwise St. Congar or Ingungar, in Lanivet, 

 was a chaj^el — and, it is said, a Hermitage also.*' The site is 

 approximately indicated by the ancient disc-headed Greek cross 

 of stone, with mortised base, which formerly stood at the triple 

 junction of the roads but now lies overthrown and broken by the 

 roadside, and is still called by the saint's name, j- 



Another hermit dwelt near the chapel of our Lady in the Park 

 of Liskeard. J 



Ecclesiastical Seals, were not, of course, needed in connection 

 with such small establishments as Anchorites' cells. 



The larger religious establishments had seals — and, the use of 

 them being of considerable importance, special means were taken 

 to ensure their safe custody. 



" The common seal," Oliver states, " was deposited in a chest 

 secured by three locks and keys ; — one kept by the Superior, 

 the second by his deputy or next in rank, the other by the 

 oldest of the professed ; nor could it be validly used without the 

 consent of the majority and discreter part of the community." 



Notices, confirmatory of such a custom, occar in the Cartulary 

 of G-lasney College, Penryn,§ for we there find that as early as 

 1304 the Provost and Chapter had a common seal in use, and the 

 Bishop in 1400 decreed that it should be safely kept under three 

 different and secure keys, these always and severally remain- 

 ing — one with the Provost or his deputy, and the two others 

 with two other different Canons of the said Church (by the 

 Provost, or his deputy, and the Chapter to be deputed), nor 



* Traditions as to hermits are often merely confused accoimts of patron 

 saints of localities. Thus one legend of the Roche hermit confounds his life with 

 that of St. Roche. Here, too, at S. Gonger there may have been only a chapel 

 with cross and well, for in Husenbeth's Emblems of Saints the old English calen- 

 dar gives " March 13, St. Cungar, Hermit." This dedication of the chapel, 

 therefore, may possibly have led to the supposition that there was a hermitage at 

 St. Gonger' s whether one existed there or not. 



t Figured by Blight in his Ancient Crosses of Cornwall, in which work he 

 has also inserted interesting notes on the Hermitages, Holy Wells, &c., also see 

 Lysons' Cornwall, p. 175, and Couch (R. I. of C. J., Vol. 1, p. 72). 



J Oliver's Mon : p. 72, note. 



§ Original in Mr. Eashleigh's possession, at Menabilly. See B. I. of C. Jl. 

 vol. 6, pp. 245, 215, 253, 257. 



